City Council

Regular Session 02/13/24 HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, MAYOR CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., VICE -MAYOR, WARD FOUR HON. JANNAN W. HOLMES, AT-LARGE CITY COUNCIL HON. DR. WILL B. MACKINTOSH, AT-LARGE HON. JASON N. GRAHAM, WARD ONE HON. JONATHAN A. GERLACH, WARD TWO HON. DR. TIMOTHY P. DUFFY, WARD THREE Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 February 13, 2024 The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia, held a regular session on Tuesday, February 13, 2024, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. City Council Present. Mayor Kerry P. Devine. Vice-Mayor Charlie L. Frye, Jr., Council members Dr. Timothy P. Duffy, Jonathan A. Gerlach, Jason N. Graham, Jannan W. Holmes and Dr. Will B. Mackintosh. Others Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, Assistant City Manager David Brown, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Assistant Director of Tourism Margaret C. Morris, Director of Parks, Recreation and Events Todd Brown, Assistant Director of Parks, Recreation and Events Michael Ward, Planning and Building Services Director Charles Johnston, Principle Planner Michael Craig, Development Administrator Marne Sherman, Budget Analyst Donna Leahy, and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Opening Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance. Council was led in prayer by Vice-Mayor Charlie L. Frye, Jr. followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilor Jason N. Graham. 22065 Regular Session 02/13/24 Officer Recognized. Mayor Devine recognized the presence of Officers Stephen Manahan and Dylan Welch at this evening’s meeting. Annual Update from Washington Heritage Museum (WHM) (D24- 61). Mr. Chuck Fennel, Chair of the WHM and Anne Darron, Executive Director presented a PowerPoint presentation giving the City Council an update on all the great work they have accomplished at the Mary Washington Monument and Caretaker’s Lodge site. See D24-61 for more information. Consent Agenda Accepted for Transmittal as Recommended (D24- 62 thru D24-75). Councilor Graham moved approval of the City Manager’s consent agenda; motion was seconded by Councilor Duffy and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). o Resolution 24-06, Second Read, Amending the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget to Appropriate Funds in the Transit Fund for Grant Carryovers (D24-62). o Resolution 24-08, Approving Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program Design Updates (D24-63). o Ordinance 24-01, First Read, Amending the License Tax (BPOL) Ordinance to Conform Administrative Procedures to State Law (D24-64). o Resolution 24-09, Vacating a Portion of the Public Sanitary Sewer Easement on Lot 55 in Fredericksburg Park Subdivision (1013 Trestle Drive / GPIN 7778- 69-7834) Pursuant to VA Code 15.2-2270 (D24-65). 22066 Regular Session 02/13/24 o Transmittal of the Board and Commission Minutes o Architectural Review Board – September 11, 2023 (D24-66) o Architectural Review Board – October 9, 2023 (D24-67) o Board of Social Services – December 7, 2023 (D24-68) o Economic Development Authority – December 11, 2023 (D24-69) o Fredericksburg Arts Commission – October 18, 2023 (D24-70) o Fredericksburg Arts Commission – November 15, 2023 (D24-71) o Fredericksburg Arts Commission – December 20, 2023 (D24-72) o Green Committee – December 12, 2023 (D24-73) o Public Transit Advisory Board – December 6, 2023 (D24-74) o Recreation Commission – November 30, 2023 (D24-75). Public Hearing. The scheduled public hearing was postponed. Citizen Comment. The following comments were given and/or submitted to be read during the citizen comment portion of this evening’s meeting. Rupert Farley, 1305 Caroline Street – spoke on Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). He commended the Council for their actions on that issue and he was looking forward to preceding with RCV being considered for Board Elections. He addressed comments that were made in an Op-Ed article in the Free Lance Star. He was hopeful the Council would move forward with RCV before the next election. Council Agenda Presented. The following items were presented to Council for discussion. 8A. City Council Sub-Committee Appointments – Mayor Devine 22067 Regular Session 02/13/24 8B. Regional Housing Assembly (RHA) – Councilor Gerlach 8C. Appointment to Healthy Generations – Mayor Devine 8D. Outside Agencies Funding – Vice-Mayor Frye 8E. Black History – Vice-Mayor Frye City Council Sub-Committee Appointments – Mayor Devine asked for nominations for the Renwick Committee and the Economic Development Sub- Committee. Councilor Holmes moved to appointed Councilor Mackintosh to the Renwick Committee; motion was seconded by Councilor Graham and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). Councilor Duffy moved to appointed Mayor Devine and Councilor Duffy to the Economic Development Sub-Committee; motion was seconded by Councilor Graham and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). Regional Housing Assembly (RHA). Councilor Gerlach reported that he has been serving as the ad hoc member on the RHA for the City and he said the Council needed to appoint someone to serve. Councilor Graham moved to appoint Councilor Gerlach to the RHA; motion was seconded by Councilor Frye and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). 22068 Regular Session 02/13/24 Councilor Gerlach moved to appoint Councilor Mackintosh as the alternate member on RHA; motion was seconded Councilor Graham and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). Appointment to Healthy Generations/Rappahannock Area Agency on Aging (RAAA). Mayor Devine stated that she was appointed to Healthy Generations/RAAA but she was unable to serve due to the dates and times of the meetings. Councilor Duffy moved to appoint Councilor Holmes to Healthy Generations; motion was seconded by Councilor Gerlach and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). Outside Agencies Funding. Vice-Mayor Frye asked Assistant City Manager Whitley to get the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) status from each of the agencies as well as multi-lingual status, on all paid staff. Black History Month. Vice-Mayor Frye commended the Fredericksburg Area Museum (FAM) and staff, the University of Mary Washington staff and students, city staff, City Council for all the work that has taken place in the City. He said more of the stories would now be told on a daily basis and the information was pouring out and it will be the new fabric of the City. 22069 Regular Session 02/13/24 Mayor Devine said the event with the Civil Rights Trail being included in the U.S. Civil Rights Trail was a fabulous event. She said this history was invaluable to have. Adoption of Minutes. Councilor Gerlach moved approval of the January 9, 2024, Regular Session and January 23, 2024 Public Hearing and Regular Session minutes; motion was seconded by Councilor Duffy and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Appointment. Councilor Graham made a motion to appoint Councilor Holmes as the City’s third member on the FAMPO Board; motion was seconded by Councilor Gerlach and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). Resolution 24-10, Approved, the Purchase of a Mobile Stage for Riverfront Park (D24-76 thru D24-77). After a brief PowerPoint presentation and discussion Councilor Gerlach moved to approve Resolution 24-10, approving the purchase of a mobile stage for Riverfront Park; motion was seconded by Councilor Duffy and passed by the following unanimously recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). Resolution 24-11, Approved, Updating the Capital Impacts Study for Schools and Fire Capital Impacts of New Residential Developments (D24- 78 thru D24-81). Councilor Duffy disclosed that he is an employee of the 22070 Regular Session 02/13/24 Fredericksburg Public Schools and he is able to participate in the transaction fairly, objectively and in the public interest. Vice-Mayor Frye disclosed that his wife is an employee of the Fredericksburg Public Schools and he is able to participate in the transaction fairly, objectively and in the public interest. Principle Planner Craig presented a PowerPoint presentation where he discussed the history of the City Capital Impact Study, Core Assumption Updates 2022 to 2024, Resulting Modifications of 2024 Capital Impacts Study and Planning Commission Recommendation and Next Steps. Councilor Gerlach was in support of the Planning Commission’s recommendation of doing away with the averages and revisiting the study on an annual basis. Councilor Gerlach was concern that the table that list the average for single family and single family attached/Townhouse would signal to developers that the City would accept that figure and then move upward instead of starting at what is called the Maximum Capital Impact Amount, which is not an average. He would like to see negotiations start at the maximum. Councilor Graham was in support of removing the averages, because it opens the City up to unnecessary risk. He also stated that reviewing on an annual basis would be helpful. He was happy to see numbers post COVID in the report, but he was concerned about the risk. He said if the study is reviewed annually, and there was another pandemic with a precipitous drop in the school enrollment figures it could skew the 22071 Regular Session 02/13/24 numbers. He would like that to be considered and he asked staff to work with TischlerBise to mitigate the risk as much as possible. Councilor Mackintosh said he was concerned that with the data showing the smaller units sending more children to the schools. He did not want this to encourage developers to build larger units because they would have a lower capital impact. He said these were guidelines and the Council can or cannot accept them based on the City’s larger goals in terms of providing affordable housing. Councilor Mackintosh asked if the data could be gathered by the age of the homes to make sure the data doesn’t create a perverse incentive to developers to build bigger. Mr. Craig said Planning Commission spent a lot of time discussing this and whether there should be a reference guide to allow them authority from the City Council to consider things like affordable housing or enhanced environmental benefits. Mr. Craig said they needed to get a handle on why the smaller units produce more children. Councilor Duffy was supportive of the comments made by Councilor Gerlach and he was intrigued by Councilor Graham’s comments. Councilor Duffy moved to approve Resolution 24-11, updating the Capital Impacts Study for Schools and Fire Capital Impacts of new residential developments as altered by Councilor Gerlach; motion was seconded by Councilor Graham. Councilor Gerlach made a friendly amendment, approval of Resolution 24-11 with the following two conditions: the elimination of the averages to single-family and single-family attached townhouse from everywhere in the study and an annual review 22072 Regular Session 02/13/24 of the study as recommended by the Planning Commission. Dr. Duffy accepted the amendments. The motion passed by the following unanimously recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). Resolution 24-12, First Read Approved, Approving a Re-Allocation of American Rescue Plan Act Funds for Fiscal Year 2024 (D24-82). Upon a motion by Councilor Graham, Resolution 24-12, was approved on first read, approving a re-allocation of American Rescue Plan Act Funds for Fiscal Year 2024; motion was seconded by Councilor Frye and passed by the following unanimously recorded votes. Ayes (7). Councilors Devine, Frye, Duffy, Gerlach, Graham, Holmes and Mackintosh. Nays (0). City Manager’s Report and Council Calendar (D24-83 thru D24-84). City Manager Baroody directed the Council’s attention to the Manager’s Update: February is Black History Month, New Wayside Panels Unveiled, March 5th Presidential Primary, FredNats Opening Night not Far Away, Progress Being Made on Riverfront Park Restrooms, The Fredericksburg Sheriff’s Office is Looking for Local Artist, Characteristics of Social Connectedness, Spring Soccer and Field Hockey Registration Now Open, Subscribe to FRED Alerts, Every Year, Our Sworn and Civilian Police Staff Proudly Serve, Calling all Local Artist, Kids Can Show Off Their Artistic Talents, Start the Year Off Right for Your Community, Trash and Recycling Schedule Information, Join Team FXBG, Idlewild Residents Please Be Aware, Parks, Recreation and Events Spring and Summer Catalog is Available and Fred Focus. 22073 Regular Session 02/13/24 Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, Mayor Devine declared the meeting officially adjourned at 9:00 p.m. Kerry P. Devine Kerry P. Devine, Mayor Tonya B. Lacey Tonya B. Lacey, Clerk of Council APPROVED 01-09-24 APPROVED 06-27-23 22074